BP 191
Mary Faustina Kowalska wrote, “A soul does not benefit from . . . confession if it is not humble. Pride keeps it in darkness. The soul neither knows how, nor is it willing, to probe with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery.”
Pride hides sin while humility confesses it.
It is actually a frightening thing when a man does not confess his sin. Why? As we have seen in past posts, humans must do something with their sin, their badness. They can deny it, or they can admit it. If they do not admit it (confess it), they must find a way to rid themselves of it which usually means seeing it in others.
We call this practice of seeing our sins in others and then condemning them but not our own faults, “scapegoating.”
People with certain personality disorders must practice projection because they are incapable of admitting that they are wrong. Some of these personality disorders are narcissism, borderline, and anti-social. If these people have problems with those around them, they are never the reason. It is always the other people around them who are at fault.
Sadly, thus, people who have cultivated these personality disorders from childhood are usually blind to their own sin.
The ability to look inside and own one’s faults is a skill critical to healthy relationships. Take, for example, the Pharisees. They could not admit they were wrong. Even when they encountered the God of the universe in the person of Jesus, they were never at fault. Instead of admitting that they were sinful, they saw the bad in Jesus. They said about the Messiah, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons” ~ Mark 3:22.
Instead of admitting that they had the problem inside of them, they saw the problem in someone else, namely Jesus. Jesus called these religious leaders, hypocrites (people who wear a mask of virtue to cover their evil and who act in contradiction to their stated beliefs).
Jesus publicly told these masked posers, “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God” ~ John 8:43ff.
Yes, Jesus told these religious people who tried to look good on the outside but could not admit their sin on the inside, “You are of your father the devil.” They pointed the finger at Jesus and said that He was possessed by Satan because they were unable to look inside their own hearts and see that they were full of pride and sin.
Imagine that: seeing sin and badness in the holy and all righteous God of the universe instead of owning their own faults. Probably not a good idea.
Jesus rightly commented about these posers, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” ~ Matthew 23:27-28.
When the Pharisees accused Jesus of doing something sinful when he ate with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus replied, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” ~ Mark 2:17.
Child of God, do not be like the prideful Pharisees. Be quick to admit you are sick. Do not hesitate to confess your sins. A hallmark of humility is the ability to look inside and confess your own sins (identify the log in your own eye) instead of attempting to remove the speck from the other person’s eye. If you do not humbly look inside first instead of helping other people see their sin, you are righteous in your own eyes. You are not sick. And, tragically, you do not need Jesus, the physician. Thus, you do not know Him.
Those who cannot confess their sins, are unrepentant. They are untouchable by the Spirit of God. They are unredeemed because to be redeemed, you must repent. They are unhealed by the Great Physician because they cannot admit they are sick and ask for help.
Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” ~ Matthew 23:37-39.
Why were the prophets sent to Jerusalem, to the scribes and the Pharisees? To convict them of their sins and to preach to them that they must repent to receive the forgiveness of sins. Did most of the Pharisees receive Jesus, the modern-day Jonah who walked through pagan Nineveh and elicited their repentance?
No. They shot the messenger. They killed those who tried to convict them of their sin. How tragic it is when someone must kill Jesus, the Son of God instead of admitting that he is a sinner who needs healing. Among these murderers stood the Pharisees. Today, there are many who are modern day Pharisees: they cannot and will not look upon their own sin, but they will project their sin into others and look down on those individuals. We call that judgmentalism.
Here we see the very definition of hypocrisy. Jesus hated hypocrisy. He was angry and grieved by the Pharisees (Mark 3:1-6).
Today’s post is not for those who are already repentant. The spirit of this post is not to promote self-flagellating or shaming of oneself. Those activities are from darkness, not God. But so is flagellating others while denying one’s own sins.
Does not God’s word say, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” ~ 1 John 1:5-10.
I have often told people that the angels of heaven rejoice on two occasions: when a soul is saved and when a man confesses his sin. Both of these occasions are really one and the same. To be saved, we must be able to confess our sins. If we do not, Jesus says we make Jesus a liar “and His word is not in us.”
So, if you are struggling in life or with others or with God, begin by confessing—even if you don’t know what to confess. Ask God to shed light on your heart, to show you unconfessed sin and blind spots because these two things will mess up every relationship you have, both horizontal and vertical. If you are speaking out of godly sorrow, you can never confess too much to God.
If you are incapable of confessing, if you are disabled by a personality disorder or by the dark practice of scapegoating others, you may be so blind that you don’t see what you are doing. Hypocrites are like that: they are so fixed on seeing their sin in others that they cannot see their sin in themselves. If you see yourself in the Pharisees, get help!
If someone cannot confess or say they’re sorry, it is a huge sign of unhealth, emotionally and spiritually. It most likely indicates that they have no need for the Physician. How dangerous is that? So, fall on your knees and cry out to God. Do not judge the sin in others. It is likely that if you accuse someone else of being a hypocrite, you are projecting your own hypocrisy into someone else.
Like the prophet Nathan said to David, “You are the man.”
So, shun the way of Pharisaism and look inside. Confession is humility while denial of sin is deadly pride. You will be righteous in your own eyes but far from God. The ability to approach God and others around you to ask forgiveness is huge relationally. You will draw people to yourself instead of repelling them. Pharisees can appear witty and charismatic for a time, but eventually their immature, blaming, mask-wearing, evil personality will leak out.
Yes, Christian, confess. Confess and rejoice that He forgives you and cleanses you from all unrighteousness!
“A man’s very highest moment is, I have no doubt at all, when he kneels in the dust, and beats his breast, and tells all the sins of his life” ~ Oscar Wilde (who possibly, hopefully, confessed on his death bed).
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted’” ~ Luke18:9ff
